Gallery LVS Ventures to Hong Kong for its First Showing at Art Central 2016

This week, Gallery LVS takes the short trip from Seoul to Hong Kong for Art Central 2016. For their
first year in the fair, the gallery brings along work from four artists
who helped put it on the map. Their
booth features works by Korean artists Won Kun Jun, Taejin
Seong, and Hyo-Jeong Park and by German artist Axel Krause. Though each of these artists has a distinct vision, their
work is unified by attention to craft and detail.

Color
is a driving force for both Jun and Seong. Jun’s small-scale paintings exemplify
his subtle, refined use of color. While his abstract fields of modulated
pigment are spare and serene, they stem from a labor-intensive method in which
he layers up to 30 thin coats of paint onto canvas—a process that can take up
to a year. Seong, by contrast, deploys color with force. His carved and painted
wooden panels pop with seemingly every color. The high-energy scenes
unite the aesthetics of comic books and traditional woodblock prints.

Conversely,
muted tones characterize the works of Krause and Park, who emphasize form. Krause’s paintings demonstrate his interest in narrative ambiguity and an ability
to imbue understated scenes with anticipation and tension. In one, a woman
stands alone at a window, its panes thrown open to reveal a waterfront view. The
woman gazes out at the open water, which seems to hold a secret.

Park,
the lone sculptor of the group, works with traditional materials such as wood
and jade to craft meditative objects and installations. In one assemblage set
upon a small wooden shelf, she places a carved marble bottle on its side,
affixed with bits of lapis lazuli and topped with a jade flower. Casual yet
refined, the arrangement easily adds to the richness of works on display.